B580 Firmware is gone after changing motherboard settings?

[JackStarborn]

Fasten your seatbelts, this is going to be a long description.

I purchased the card in early January.

Right after I put it in the computer it didn't work at all. Neither in CSM nor UEFI mode, not even during POST (Power On Self Test). I checked the connection using HDMI and DisplayPort.

In UEFI mode, a GOP section with unknown device/unknown driver appeared.

So what did I do? I used the only other working card I had at home, ATI Radeon HD4830. My more recent card died

I installed Windows 10 in CSM using the old card, then installed the driver package for the graphics card.

I changed the motherboard settings to UEFI, and from that moment the GOP section started to recognize the card, but the system did not boot(the installer created MBR partitions due to the CSM mode). 

So I reinstalled Windows 10, this time with GPT partitions. I reinstalled the drivers for my Intel Battlemage graphics card, and from then on I enjoyed a fully functioning card for months.

However, few days ago, I wanted my card to work under Linux, so I installed a rather niche distribution, Void Linux with kernel 6.12, on a separate disk.

To make a long story short, updating the kernel to 6.14 didn't help, so with the help of chat gpt I compiled kernel 6.15 with the new driver (xe instead of 915).
However, I did it in CSM mode in the graphical environment using the old card.
Finally I managed to start Linux with this driver, the image was sent via DisplayPort. 
I went into the board settings, switched to UEFI, turned off the power supply and completely removed the old card.
From that moment on in UEFI, in the GOP section again there is Unknown device/unknown driver. Card doesn't display any output now  neither running Windows nor Linux, regardless of CSM/UEFI mode.

I tried to reinstall the drivers for the Intel Battlemage card in Windows running in CSM mode (because that's the only way the monitor displays anything) with the help of the old card. I allowed the driver to restart the computer, went into UEFI and changed CSM to UEFI, took out the old graphics card again and was greeted by a black screen.

How can I re-flash the firmware/driver for the card so that it works in UEFI mode?

Is it necessary to go down the path of installing Windows 10 twice?

Please help

[RobbieR_Intel]

Hello JackStarborn,

Thank you for reaching out to us. I will further review this case and will get back you once I have an immediate resolution or action.

I sincerely appreciate your patience and understanding

Best Regards,

Robbie R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[JackStarborn]

Some additional information.

Card model: ASRock Arc B580 Steel Legend OC 12GB GDDR6
Motherboard: MSI MAG B550 TOMAHAWK DDR4

Tried to install drivers on Windows (CSM mode) with both boot modes: UEFI, UEFI+LEGACY. It didn't help. 

Now I see that the original description contained an error regarding Linux. When I wrote about Battlemage running on Linux and displaying the image via DisplayPort, I had UEFI mode and probably boot mode: UEFI+LEGACY, and the old card still in the computer. Only the additional PCI-E power supply was unplugged. So I plugged that power supply in and changed the boot mode to UEFI only and saved the changes, then turned off the computer. I took out the old card and unfortunately was greeted by a black screen.

I think I've described it as best as I can remember now. I may have missed something. I was tired and annoyed that it took me the whole weekend to get the Linux driver ready and troubleshoot the issues that came up along the way.

In addition to restoring the card to a fully functional state, I would like to understand what happened and what not to do to avoid it happening again.

------------------------------------

I found this article: https://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/guide-flashing-intel-arc-gpus.311964/

I am not native English user so I don't know if I understand this paragraph correctly:
"Intel delivers firmware during the display driver package install.

This comes with some caveats.

• Windows auto install will not update the firmware.
• Installing a new Intel GPU and using the previous installation will not update the firmware.
• Installing previous drivers will not rollback firmware (Driver installs are upgrade only)
• If the flash process times out during the driver install it will not attempt to install the firmware again."

Does "Installing a new Intel GPU and using the previous installation will not update the firmware" mean that I need to have a fresh Windows installation for the driver installer to attempt to upload the firmware?

Also I found this article:
https://forum.level1techs.com/t/remember-to-update-your-intel-arc-firmware-on-linux/208736/8

and this tool: https://github.com/intel/igsc?tab=readme-ov-file#cmake

This is new to me though and I would probably need some advice so I'll wait until your team can figure something out. 

Thanks in advance for your help. I love my Battlemage

[RobbieR_Intel]

Hello JackStarborn,

Thank you for your detailed description, it seems that your Intel Arc GPU is not being recognized in UEFI mode, leading to a black screen. Rest assured, I'll help you in addressing this.

To further investigate, please answer the following questions:

• Was this working fine before?
• Have you tried to do a fresh installation of the Operating System together with a Clean Installation of the latest Intel Arc Driver?
• Did you encounter any timeout errors during the driver installation process?
• Have you used the IGSC tool on Linux to update the GPU firmware?
• Did you do any changes on the BIOS settings relating to secure boot or legacy support?

To assist us in analyzing the details of your system and addressing the issue effectively, we kindly ask you to generate a System Support Utility (SSU) report. This report will provide us with comprehensive information about your system's configuration, helping us identify any potential incompatibilities or issues.

To generate the SSU report, please refer to the article: How to get the Intel® System Support Utility Logs on Windows*.

I look forward to your swift response!

Best Regards,

Robbie R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[RobbieR_Intel]

Hello JackStarborn,

I wanted to check in and see if you had a chance to go through the questions I shared earlier. Whenever it’s convenient for you, just let me know; I'm happy to continue assisting you.

Best Regards,

Robbie R.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[JackStarborn]

Hello there,

sorry for radio silence for a week but I was on a trip.

Now that I'm back we can get back to solving this problem.

I am attaching the report you requested.

To answer your questions:

• Was this working fine before?
  • Of course. I enjoyed a fully functioning card for months.
• Have you tried to do a fresh installation of the Operating System together with a Clean Installation of the latest Intel Arc Driver?
  • I reinstalled the drivers several times, trying different versions. I haven't attempted to reinstall the system. That's yet to come. I'm currently preparing a backup.
• Did you encounter any timeout errors during the driver installation process?
  • No.
• Have you used the IGSC tool on Linux to update the GPU firmware?
  • No. I googled it but didn't want to take any risks.
• Did you do any changes on the BIOS settings relating to secure boot or legacy support?
  • I disabled Secure Boot immediately after purchasing the card when I initially could not start it, and I have not changed this setting since then.
  • Since I don't have another UEFI/GPO compatible graphics card I'm currently using CSM mode so that my old card will allow me to use the computer.

I'll let you know once I finish the backup and reinstall Windows. Stay tuned.

Thanks in advance for your help

[ArchieD_Intel]

Hello JackStarborn,

Thank you for providing the requested information. I will investigate this and will get back to you once a resolution is available. Thank you for your patience and understanding. 

Best Regards,

Archie D.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[Ernesto_C_Intel1]

Hi @JackStarborn, 

I'm contacting you on behalf of my technician, ArchieD_Intel. Rest assured that I'm actively working to investigate the issue you've raised. 

I'll provide you an update as soon as possible. 

Regards, 

Ernesto C. 

Intel Customer Support Engineer

[ArchieD_Intel · Accepted solution]

Hello JackStarborn,

Currently, automatic firmware updates for the graphics card occur only when updating or installing the driver from the official Intel website. The Windows operating system cannot update the firmware through regular updates. Arc graphics are currently supported only on Windows 10 22H2 or newer, Windows 11, and Ubuntu 22.04 or newer.

Additionally, I need a bit more information to further investigate the issue:

• When the Linux system successfully booted, were both graphics cards, AMD and Intel, installed simultaneously?
• After removing the AMD card, was the Intel card installed in its slot or left in the second slot?

Switching boot modes should not affect image display in UEFI/BIOS settings, so we recommend trying a different port and checking the reliability of the PCI-E power connection.

Please provide this information so we can assist you further. Thank you!

Best Regards,

Archie D.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[JackStarborn]

Sorry for late response, I am very busy lately.

"Switching boot modes should not affect image display in UEFI/BIOS settings" - I agree. But this was last change I remember doing.

I think there's something wrong with the graphics card slots in the motherboard settings. I put the Battlemage card in the slot that's reinforced with metal, which would suggest it's the main slot, but when both cards were in, the second slot was treated as the main one (I got messages about no UEFI/GOP compatible card).

I made 2 attempts to install Windows. The first one didn't get the card working again. But the second time it did.

What could finally help was using a newer version of the drivers and resetting the motherboard settings using the jumper, because then the motherboard switches to UEFI mode.

The situation would be much clearer if the motherboard settings allowed you to choose which graphics card slot is the main one.

Thank you for your assistance in this topic.

I also hope that the drivers will continue to improve so as to unlock the full potential of these cards.

Goodbye.

[ArchieD_Intel]

Hello JackStarborn,

Did you have a chance to review the previous post? Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions. Thank you.!

Best Regards,

Archie D.

Intel Customer Support Technician

[ArchieD_Intel]

Hello JackStarborn,

Since I haven't received a response from you, I will be closing this inquiry. If you need further assistance, please submit a new question, as this thread will no longer be monitored.

Best Regards,

Archie D.

Intel Customer Support Technician